093_SB1365

 
                                     LRB093 10072 DRJ 10323 b

 1        AN ACT in relation to public aid.

 2        Be  it  enacted  by  the People of the State of Illinois,
 3    represented in the General Assembly:

 4        Section 5.  The Illinois Public Aid Code  is  amended  by
 5    adding Section 5-24 as follows:

 6        (305 ILCS 5/5-24 new)
 7        Sec.  5-24.  Pediatric asthma initiative. During the 2004
 8    fiscal year, the Department of  Public  Aid  shall  begin  an
 9    initiative  to  prevent and treat pediatric asthma. Under the
10    initiative, the Department shall contract  with  health  care
11    providers  for  programs  for the prevention and treatment of
12    pediatric asthma through physician and patient education  and
13    case management. The Department shall contract with providers
14    of  health  care  services that the Department has determined
15    are qualified, under criteria developed in rules, to  deliver
16    the  proposed  program  model, providing care consistent with
17    the 1997 guidelines on asthma from the National Institutes of
18    Health. The Department shall enter into  these  contracts  in
19    the  county  or  counties  that  have  the  highest volume or
20    highest   rate,   compared   to   national    averages,    of
21    hospitalization  or mortality, or both, from pediatric asthma
22    according to criteria specified by the  Department  in  rules
23    and  as  resources  permit, provided that these criteria must
24    specify, at a minimum, that a grant or grants shall  be  made
25    each year in counties exceeding 3,000,000 in population.

26        Section  99.  Effective  date. This Act takes effect upon
27    becoming law.